Nut shelling machine



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NUT SHELLING MACHINE Filed April '7; 19:4 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fla. 6, 77

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'mn' snELLIke MACHINE Filed April 7, 1934 5 Shegts-Sheet 5 l/V VE/VTOE61424; W Jneo/va Patented Dec. 29, 1936 PATENT OFFICE NUT SHELLINGMACHINE Carll W. Strong, Watchung, N. J.

Application April 7, 1934, Serial No. 719,435

'7 Claims (01. 146-40) I 7 This invention relates to improvements in nutshelling machines, and has particular reference to such machines for theshelling of nuts of the hard shell type.

In a variety of palm nuts such as the cohune, babassu and coquito, theshell or pericarp is extremely hard while the kernels or meats enclosedtherein are rich in vegetable oil. I understand from the prior art thatmachines have been devised for cracking nuts of the hard shell'variety,but they have failed to meet the commercial requirements for thesuccessful cracking of the shell and removal of the meat intact withoutinjury thereto. It is therefore one of the main objects of thisinvention to provide a machine which will positively cut the shell intoa plurality of separate sections to free the meat or kernel therefromintact, the depth of the cut being less than the thickness ,of the shellto avoid injury to the meat or kernel.

Another feature of the invention resides in a pair of spacedreciprocating knives arranged on the same plane which cooperate tosimultaneousv ly attack and cut a nut transversely of its longitudinalaxis from opposite sides when fed to a position of rest in the path ofthe knives.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a novel feedingmeans whereby the nuts may be singly and positively fed to a position inthe path of the reciprocatory knives to avoid idle operation of thecutting mechanism due to jamming of the nuts in their passage from thesupply hopper.

A further feature of the invention is to provide an agitating andscreening device for receiving the shelled nuts for shaking loose anykernels which might not .be freed during the cutting operation, and forfinally separating the free kernels from the nut shells.

strong and durable for the purposes to which it is adapted for use.

With these and other objects in view, the invention resides in thecertain novel combination and arrangement of parts, the essentiaifeatures of which are described in the following specification, areparticularly pointed out in the appended claims, and are illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is. a front elevational view of the 5 nut shelling machinewithparts broken away and insection. 1 Figure 2 is an vend elevationalview looking from the left end of Figure 1. 1

Figure 3 is a fragmentary horizontal, sectional view on the line 33 ofFigure 1.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 1. r.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional elevational view of one of the nut,feeding and shelling units.

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 66 of Figure 5.Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view on the,

line 1-1 of Figure 6.

'Figure 8 is a vertical transverse sectional view on the line 88 ofFigure 7.

Figure 9 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 9--9 of Figure 7 butshowing the position of the parts immediately after a nut cuttingoperation.

Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view on the line ill-l0 of Figure 9.

Figure 11 is a side elevational view of a modified form of cuttingknife.

Figure 12 is a horizontal sectional top plan 39 view of a modified formof power drive for the cutter units.

' depending upon the capacity of a desired nut cracking machine. In viewof the fact that each i of the nut cracking units A are identical in.construction, a description of one will sufilce for the others.

Each nut cracking unit A includes a pair of spaced alined bearings i2mounted on the top of -the bed plate Hi which slidably supportreciprocable cutter heads l3. The inwardly facing ends of the cutterheads l3 are each provided with spaced horizontally disposed slots orrecesses it into which the inner ends of cutter knives I 5 extend, thesaid knives being removably secured in position by screws it whichthread down through the top of the head l3 and pass through elongatedslots i! in the cutter blades l5. By

. this arrangement. adjustment of the cutter knives vided with asemi-circular shaped notch IS, the walls of the notch being beveledoutwardly as at the cams 24 will impart a reciprocating move- 20 toprovide a sharp cutting and wedging knife edge which functions in amanner to be hereinafter explained.

It is desired to impart simultaneous reciproca tion to the opposedcutter heads i3, that is, the cutter heads are to move inwardly towardeach other at the same time and at the same rate of speed and are to bemoved away from each other at the same rate of speed in order to obtainthe desired cutting and release action. The mechanism for imparting suchmovement to the cutters will now be explained.

Journaled in transversely alined bearings 2i mounted on the top of thebed plate i0 and disposed outwardly beyond the bearings i2 are parallelcountershafts 22, one of the ends of the shafts extending beyond'one ofthe longitudinal sides of the bed plate It and carrying a worm gear 23for operative connection with a driving mechanism to be describedhereinafter. Fixed to each shaft 22 is a pair of spaced identicaleccentric cams 24, while extending about the eccentrics are eccentricring straps 25 provided with bearing ears 26 which are pivoted to theouter ends of the cutter heads as at 21.. Thus it will be seen that uponrotation of the shafts 22,

ment to the cutterheads i3. The-cams 24 on the respective shafts 22 ofeach cutter unit are so positioned as to impartsimultaneous movement ofthe two cutter heads alternately toward and away from each other.

Interposed between .the coacting reciprocating cutters and disposed outof the plane of movement thereof, is a nut holding and releasingmechanism which includes a lower set of coacting seat members 23 and anupper set. of coacting iawsjl. The seat members 23 comprise asubstantially U-shaped frame 3i slidably mounted upon the bed plate llby means of guide rails 32. Mounted in each frame 3| for downwardyielding movement, is a seat element 33 normally held in a raisedposition by springs 34 and guided in its vertical movement by pins 35.Each of the seat elements 33 has a base curved to receive thecorrespondingly curved end of a-nut tobe cracked and the twocoactingseat members 33 when in cloud position as shown in Figure 7 forma seat or rest for supporting a nut in a position to be acted upon bythe reciprocating cuttermembers.

For imparting simultaneous sliding movement to the seat members 33 intimed relation to the reciprocations of the cutters, there is providedon each shaft 22, a cam 34, the said cams being mounted on the shafts 22intermediate the respective sets of eccentrics 24. Fixed to andextending outwardly from the seat frames 3i are rods-31, the same beingslidably mountedin the bearings i2, the outer ends of the said rodsbeing connected by pin and slot connections 33- to the lower arm of rocklevers 33 pivoted in brackets 43 while the upper ends of the rock leverscarry rollers'4l which respectively engage the cams 33 during rotationof the shaft 22. The cams 33 are intended to actuate the rock levers 33to cause the rods 31 to move toward each other and position the seatelements 33 in close proximity to each other to receive a nut to becracked. When in this closed position, and after a nut has been cracked,the cams clear the rollers 4i, the seat members are moved by springs 42into engagement with the inner ends of the cutter heads l3 as shown inFigure and it is therefore unnecessary that the cams 36 constantlyengage the rollers 4! of the rock levers 39. Upon the retractivemovement of the cutter heads [3, the seat members will move away. fromeach other by reason of the action of the springs 42 mounted on each rod31- and which springs are interposed between the outer ends of thebearings i2 and fixed collars 43 carried by the respective rods 31.

The jaw members 30 above referred to are of substantial T-shape in frontelevation as shown in Figure 8 of the drawings, and the inner faces ofthe jaws are recessed as at 44 to conform with the curvature at one endof a. nut to be shelled. The recessed portions 44 are of such depth thatwhen the jaw members are in a closed position as shown in Figure 10, thecavity formed by the coa'cting jaw members remains open at the top topermit the next nut which is adapted to enter the machine for cutting torest upon the nut being cracked; The jaw members 30 are slidably mountedupon spaced longitudinally extending parallel rods 45 and are slidabletoward and away from each other in timed relation to the reciprocationof the cutters and with respect to the movements of the seat members 29.The mechanism about to be described is so timed that after a nut to becracked is seated upon the closed seat members 23, the jaws'lii moveinwardly to close about the top end of the nut and which jaws coact withthe seat members to firmly hold'the nut to be cracked in the path ofsimultaneous inward movement of the reciprocating cutter knives ii. Forimparting this sliding movement to the respective jaws 30, there isprovided a cam 48 on each shaft 22 and which cam is disposed beyond oneof the bearings-2i as best seen in Figure 6 of the drawings. Ridingagainst each cam 46 is a roller 41 carried at one end of a lever 43, theopposite end of the lever being fixed to a countew shaft 43 extendingtransversely above the guide rails 32. Thus it willbe seen that byrotation of the cam 46 with its shaft 22, a rocking movement willbe'imparted to the lever 43 which in turn imparts an oscillating turningmovement to the shaft 43. Fixed to each shaft 43 and respectivelydisposed adjacent opposite ends thereof, are levers 33, the upper endsof the levers 50 being connectedby pin and slot connections ii to apoint adjacent the top of the jaws 33. Encircling the rods 45 andinterposed between the jaw members 30 and rod bearings ii, are springs52, which springs have a tendency to normally urge the coacting jaws toa closed position, thus the cams 43 act upon the levers 43 for-turningthe shafts 43 to move the levers I. in a direction against the tensionof the springs 32, or in other words tothe bed plate It! and constitutesa common driving shaft for all of the nut cracking units of the machine.I

The power drive from a source of power to the shaft 54 is derived in thefollowing manner. Mounted upon the floor or support B on which themachine is mounted, is an electric-motor 56, the armature shaft of whichcarries a driving pulley 51. Journaled in bearings beneath the bed plateI0 is a countershaft 58 on which a large pulley wheel 59 is mounted. Apulley belt 68 passes over the wheel 58 and over the driving pulleywheel 51, the belt being held under tension by a tension wheel-5|. Alsofixed to the shaft 58 is a smaller pulley wheel 62 while disposed invertical alinement with the pulley wheel 62 is a slightly larger pulleywheel 63 fixed adjacent one end of the shaft 54. .Passing over thealined pulley wheels 63 and 62, is a pulley belt 64. Thus it will beseen that power-will be transmitted from the motor 56 to'the shaft 58and thence. from the shaft 58 to the driving shaft 54 through a seriesof pulleys and belts,-but any other form of drive may be substitutedtherefor for imparting driving rotation to the wormshaft 54.

It is essential to the successful operation of the machine that the nutsto be cracked are fed endwise to the nut supporting seats 29 and thatthe said nuts be fed individually. For this purpose, I provide a novelfeeding mechanism which includes a feed hopper 65 which is common to allof the feed units for the respective nut cracking units, and in view ofthe fact that all of the feeding units are identical, a description ofone will suffice for the others. The hopper 65 is supported in anelevated position above the nut cracking units A, and is provided with aseries of feed outlets 66, there being one for each feeding mechanism,the walls of the bottom of the hopper 65 being inclined towardtherespective outlets 66. Associated with each outlet 66, is a nut feedwheel 61, journaled in bearings 68 mounted upon a frame structure 69rising from the bed plate I 8. The feed wheel 61 is constructed of orpockets 68' of a shape to conform to the general contour of the side ofthe nut to be cracked.

The wheel 61 substantially fills the outlet opening 66 but is spacedfrom the walls thereof to provide a restricted passage 18 through whichthe nuts must pass to the vertical feed tube 1|,

the lower end of the feed tube terminating ona plane directly above thejaws 30 and in vertical alinement with the seat formed when the seatmembers 29 are in closed position. This construction is clearly shown inFigure 5 of the drawings. The outer wall of the restricted passage 18consists of a door 12 pivotally supported at 13 and normally held closedby a spring 14, The tension of the spring 14 is sufficient to hold thedoor 12 closed during the normal feeding of the nuts through therestricted passage 18 to the top end of the feed tube H but in the eventof any possible jamming of the nuts in the feed tube which would preventthe wheel 61 from feeding additional nuts thereto, any further feed ofnuts to the tube is avoided as the pressure exerted upon the nuts fed tothe jammed tube act upon the a receptacle and again deposited into thehopper '65. The pockets 68' serve to corre'ctly'position the nuts fortheir entrance into the gravity feed tube H and unless a nut is seatedin one of the pockets 68' it will not be carried to the feed tube, asbefore stated it is essential that the nuts be fed to the nut crackingunits so that their longitudinal axis is disposed at right angles to thedirection of cut of the reciprocating cutter.

For imparting rotation to the feed wheel 61, there is provided a pulleywheel 16 which is fixed to one end of the feed wheel shaft, while fixedto one of the shafts 22 of the nut cracker unit is a smaller pulleywheel 11, and passing-over the pulley wheels 16 and TI is an endlesspulley belt 18. The ratio between the pulley wheels 16 and 11 is such asto feed nuts from the hopper to the feed tube H in proportion to thespeed of the nut cracking unit. .It is desired to have the feed tube llcharged with nuts at all times in order that they may gravitate tosuccessive position within the path'of the reciprocating cutters. Whenthe jaw members 30 are in closed position as illustrated in Figure 10 ofthe drawings, they also serve to close the lower discharge end of thegravity feed tube U and the said jaws move inwardly about the nut to 'becracked. to exclude any possibility of two nuts entering the nut holdingmechanism.

The'bed plate. I 0 directly beneath the nut holding mechanism and inalinement with the discharge end of the gravity feed tube H is providedwith a discharge opening 19, and mounted beneath the bed plate I 0 andcommon to all of the discharge openings 19 is a discharge hopper 88.Connected to the discharge hopper 80 through a vertical tube BI is ashell beater and separator C. The device C includes acirculator casing82 and the tube or pipe 8| enters througli'the, top of the casingadjacent the annular side wall. The bottom of the casing 82 is of a meshwire or screen 83, the openings of which are of a size to permit of themeats of the nuts to pass through to a discharge chute 84 from which themeats may be collected by placing a receptacle at the lowerend of thechute. Extending .into the casing 82 through thetop thereof is a shaft85, the inwardly extending portion of the shaft having a paddle wheel 86fixed thereto and which is disposed in close proximity to the walls ofthe casing.

The upper or outer end of the shaft ,85 carries agear 81 which is inconstant mesh with a pinion gear 88 fixed to one end of a shaft 89, theopposite end of the shaft carrying a gear 90 which is in constant meshwith a driving gear 9| fixed to the countershaft 58. Thus power istransmitted to the shaft 89 through the gears 9| and 90 and thence tothe paddle wheel 86 through the meshing gears 81 and 88, whereby thepaddle wheel 86 is rotated during operation of the machine. The sidewall of the casing 82 is provided with an outlet opening 92 to which theupper end of a discharge chute 93 is connected. The shelled nuts of thepaddle wheel 86 to agitate the shelled nuts and to separate the meator'kernels from engagementwith the shells in the event that they shouldbecome stuck after the cracking operavtion. As before stated, the meatsor kernels of.

the nuts pass through the screen 83 and during rotation of the paddlewheel 86, the shells which are of a larger'size are thrown out throughthe discharge opening 92 by, means of centrifugal force, the said shellspassing down the chute 93 is cut into three sections as shown in Figure10, r

to gravitate to the lower endthereof wherethey may be collected in'areceptacle for disposal or any other use desired. As before stated, thema chine is adapted to crack palm nuts such as the cohune, coquito andthe babassu, all of which possess ashell or pericarp of extremely hardtexture. It has therefore been a problem to construct a machine whichwill successfully crack or shellthese types of nuts without injury tothe meat or kernels, which is highly rich of vegetable oil, for if thekernel is injured in any way the oil immediately begins to flow, and islost for commercial purposes.

The operation of the machine is as follows. Assume that the motor 56 isin operation and is driving the shaft 54 in the direction of the arrowsshown in Figures 6 and 9, whereupon the entire battery of cutter units Ais in operation. With the parts of the cutter units shown in thepositing knives l5, and at this point, the cams or eccentrics 24 actupon the cutter heads 2 to move them simultaneously toward each otherand which in turn causes the notched knife edges 20 to attack the nutfrom opposite sides thereof and at right angles to thelongitudinal axisof the nut. As before stated, each set of cutters consists of two spacedknives, whereupon the nut namely a center ring like section E, and apair of end sections F. The forward stroke of the knife blade ispredeterminedly' set according to the graded size or particular type ofnut to be shelled so'that the out made upon the nut is predetermined andis always less than the thickness of the shell of the nut so as to avoidinjury to the kernels or meat. As the knives cut into the shell of thenut, they also due to the beveled faces, serve to wedge the outer endcut sections apart in order to free the end sections F from the centerring section E. The seat members 33 and jaws 40 yield under any excesspressure-to avoid breaking of the parts, and to also.compensate for theseparation of the end shell sections F from the intermediate ringsection E. The yielding action is shown in dotted lines in Figure 10.During the cutting operation the cams 36 are free of the levers 39 and.the seat members are being held in seat forming position by theirengagement with the inner ends of the cutter heads I3, thus upon outwardor retractive movement of the cutter members, the seat members 29 willalso move away from each other or open up to release the shelled nut andallow it to drop through the opening IS-and into the shell beater andseparator C. In the event that the center "'tlifdugh the-opening IL-thecams y" move into operative contact with the levers 38 to actuate therods 31 and move the seat members 28 to closed position and as theseatrmembers reach After a the closed position, the jaw members 30 aremoved to open position against the tension of the springs 52 byengagement of the high points on the earns 46 striking the rollers 41 onthe free ends of the levers 48. The position of the Jaws 30 in openposition is best seen in Figure 7 of the drawings, whereupon thelowermost nut in the gravity feed tube Ii is free to drop upon theclosed seat members 29. This explanation of the operation covers. onecycle, and further explanation ofthe same is not deemed necessary.

The feed mechanism has been clearly described hereinbefore, and furtherexplanation is not believed necessary, other than to say that the feedis so timed withrespect to 'the cracking unit that a nut is fed into theentrance end of the feed tube H during the interval between the crackingof the nuts, so that the tube is charged with nuts at all times.

I have also described the operation of the shell beater and separatorwhich receives the shelled nuts and kernels after passing from the nutcracking units, and which serves to shake loose any kernels which maybecome stuck in the intermediate ring section E of a shelled nut, thekernels passing off through one chute and the shells through a separatechute.

In Figure 11 of the drawings, I have illustrated a slightly modifiedform of cutter blades 95, which is substantially the same as thesemi-circular notched blade shown in the preferred form, with theexception that the notched or knife edge SB is of V-shape configuration.

In Figure 12 of the drawings a modified form of drive isshown, whereinthe driving shaft 54' drives. the shafts 22' through worm gearing 23. r

words the shaft 22 is similar to the shafts 22 in the preferred form,but are common to all of the nut cracking units The shaft 54' is drivenby a pulley means 91 from a drive shaft connected to a source of power.

'In Figure 13 of the drawings, a still further modification of cutterhas been shown for use in instances where it is desired to cut the nuttransversely of its axis as shown in the preferred form together with acut made longitudinally of the nut. In the drawings, the numeral 98designates the horizontal or transverse cutters and 99 the vertical orlongitudinal cutters, both of which fit into and are secured within areciprocating cutter head I00, which is the equivalent to the cutterhead I! in the preferred form.

While I have shown and described what I deem to be the most practicalembodiments of my- .invention, I wish it to be understood that suchchanges in construction may be resorted to as come within the scope ofthe appended claims.

ent of the United States, is:-

1. In a nut shelling machine, a pair of spaced alined coactingreciprocable cutters, means for simultaneously imparting reciprocatorymovement to said cutters for alternate movement tosaid feed tube when innut gripping position, and '75 actuating means operable in timedrelation to the reciprocation 01' said cutters for successivelyreleasing said jaws and said rest to release a shelled nut from saidrest and allow a nut to gravitate from said feed tube to a position tobe held by said rest and jaws in the path of cutting movement of saidcutters.

2. In alnut shelling machine, a pair of opposed alined reciprocatingcutters, each of said cutters including a pair of spaced parallel knifeblades, oppositely beveled concave cutting edges on said knife blades,means for imparting simultaneous reciprocation to said cuttersalternately toward and away from each other, and means for sup- 15porting an oval shaped nut to be shelled in the path of movement of saidcutters toward each other and with its longitudinal axis at right anglesto the plane of movement of said cutters, where- I by the opposedbeveled cutting edges of said knife blades will cut a nut into threesections transversely of its longitudinal axis and cause the endsections of the shell of the nut to be forced outwardly.

3.' In a nut shelling machine, a bed plate having an opening therein, apair of coacting recessed seat members movable to a closed position oversaid opening to provide a cup shaped nut supporting seat and movable toan open position clear of said opening to release a nut for passagetherethrough, a pair of coacting recessed nut restraining membersmovably supported above and spaced from the plane of said pair ofrecessed seat members, means for opening and closing both of said pairsof recessed members in timed relation to receive, hold, and release anut to be shelled, opposed reciprocating cutters mounted on a planebetween said pairs of recessed members, and means for impartingreciprocato'ry movement to said cutters for cutting a nut held by saidrecessed members when in closed position.

4. In a nut shelling machine, means for yieldably engaging andsupporting the opposed ends of an oval shaped nut to be shelled, a pairof op-' posed reciprocable cutters, each of said cutters including apair of knife blades having opposed recessed beveled cutting edges forcutting the shell of a nut on two planes transversely of itslongitudinal axis and for spreading the cut end sections of the nutoutwardly, and means for imparting cutters simultaneously toward andaway from each other.

6. In a nut shelling machine, means for yieldably engaging andsupporting the opposed ends of an oval shaped nut to be shelled, a pairof opposed reciprocable cutters, each of said cutters including a pairof spaced knife blades having opposed recessed beveled cutting edges forcutting the shell of a nut on two planes transversely of itslongitudinal axis and for spreading the cut end sections of the nutoutwardly, means for imparting reciprocation to said cutterssimultaneously toward and away from each other, and fixed means on aplane intermediate the spaced knife blades of each of said cutters forstripping the intermediate severed nut section from between said bladesduring movement of said cutters away from each other.

7. In a nut shelling machine, a bed plate having an opening therein, apair of spaced bearings secured to said bed plate and respectivelydisposed at opposite sides of said opening, a pair of horiaontallydisposed knife holders 'slidably mounted in said bearings, inwardlyfacing knife blades carried by said holders, a pair of shafts journaledin bearings on said bed plate respectively disposed at right angles tothe plane of movement of said holders and beyond the bearings therefor,eccentrics fixed to said shafts. eccentric bands encircling therespective eccentrics and pivotally connected to the outer ends of therespective knife holders, and means for imparting simultaneous rotationto said shafts.

CARLL w. STRONG.

